Means for obtaining motive power from water and air currents



(No Model.)

J. B. FOX.

MEANS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FROM WATER ANDAIR OURRENTS. No. 397,118. Patented Feb. 5, 1889.

UNITED STATES PATENT OE-EIcE.

JOSIAH B. FOX, OF EMLENTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

MEANS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FROM WATER. AND AIR CURRENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,118, dated February 5, 1889.

Application filed January 14, 1888. Serial No. 260,778. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSIAH B. FOX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Emlenton, county of Venango, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Means for Obtaining Motive Power from ater and Air Currents, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawin Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts.

My invention relates to lll'llJlOVBlllGlliS in hydraulic motors; and it consists of the novel combination and construction of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved wheel constructed in accordance with my invention, the same being partly shown in section the better to show its working parts. Fig. 2 is a front sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the paddles detached from the wheel. Fig. i is an enlarged detail view in end elevation of one of the paddles to more clearly show the oblique bend therein to enable said paddles to make a quarter-turn without obstruction from the fixed supporting- Shaft.

To put my invention into practice I provide a'frame, a, of suitable size and form of construction, and anchor the same securely to the bed-rook of a running stream. In the center of this frame a is a vertical shaft, 1), one end of which is rigidly secured in the bottom of the stream and the other extended above the surface of the water. Secured over this shaft 1), and resting on a collar, 0, integral with the shaft 1), is a loose sleeve, 1', to which is secured a peculiar-shaped huh, (I, octagonal in form on its outside surface. Projecting through this hub (Z is a number of shafts, f, arranged on a horizontal plane, each shaft 5 f provided with two paddles, 9, arranged the one at right angles to the other in such a manner that when one of the paddles g stands in a vertical position the other occupies a horizontal position. These shafts f are loosely journaled in the hub (I, so as to be capable of making a quarter turn or revolution therein with the paddles gat the ends thereof; and to enable this shaft f to make this turn without striking the central fixed shaft, 1), or the re tary sleeve 2', said shaft f is bent laterally at its middle in the form of the letter U, as at Z. (Indicated very clearly in Figs. 3 and 4.) This U-shape'd bend Z of the shaft lies at an oblique lineor angle to the line of juncture of the two right-angled paddles, (see Fig. 4,) so that when the paddles occupy one position the bend will be turned down alongside the shaft 1), as indicated in Fig. 4, and when the paddles are reversed by striking the turning piece m and the action of the current of water the bend will be turned up alongside of thefiXed central shaft, as is obvious, thus permitting the paddles to make a quarter-turn without obstruction from the central shaft, b. Suitable braces, It, are placed inside the frame a, in order to strengthen the same. To one of these braces 7c is secured a turning piece, m, the other end of which is attached to the shaft This device on serves to rotate the vertical paddle to a horizontal position by means of the paddles g revolving against the same, and when partly turned the current acting on the opposite paddle completes the quarterrevolution. A suitable projection, 3, formed on the hubs at the back of each of the paddles g, prevents the same when in a vertical position from revolving away from the line of pressure of the current.

By this construction the paddles g are kept vertical on one side of the wheel and horizontal 011 the other until each one comes again in line with the current at the upper side of the wheel, at which time the paddle g turns so as to present its broad side against the current until again in line with the current at the lower or downstream end of the frame (L,Wl1611 they will again be turned by the obstruction on, previously mentioned.

A crank or wheel, j, secured to the top of the sleeve t, serves as a means of transferring the power thus generated to points or places requiring the same.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. The combination consisting of the frame a, the vertical shaft 5, the sleeve 7:, and hub d,

attached thereto, the double paddles g, arright-angled blades, whereby the shaft and ranged securely about the lllll) (.7, and the tnrnpaddles can make a quarter-turn Without obing' deviee 7n, Substantially as set forth. strnetion from the iixed ventral shaft, and a 2. The eomhinaticm of a fixed central shaft, fixed turning; pieee arranged in the path of I 5 a sleeve loosely fitted thereon and carrying a the paddles, snhstant iallyas and for the purhulJ, the paddles 1 arranged inv pairs and at pose deserihed. right angles to one another on opposite ends of horizontal shafts j", which are loosely journaled in said huh, eaeh shaft having an oblique hend, I, therein arranged at an obtuse angle to the line of juncture of the pair of .l ()SlAl I B. F0

'\\'itnesses:

M. E. lI.=xnmsoN, C. (3. LEE. 

